I'm using the PokerTracker Equity Calculator and read some comments about PokerCruncher
Its better than PT own calculator . Does it have more options ?

I'm looking for something real good that can help me not only eq but also Icm and call ranges / Push / Fold ... etc

Thanks

>>> Does it have more options ?

More options than the PokerTracker calculator? Yes, and no : ). For one thing, the PT calculator supports Omaha whereas PokerCruncher is Hold'em only. But I believe PokerCruncher is deeper at analyzing Hold'em e.g. Deal-To-Flop/Turn, many additional flop/turn stats, flop texture analysis. And the Mac version of PokerCruncher has additional expert level features (see the app's tutorial on the app's website). But the PT calculator integrates better/automatically with PT hand histories making it faster to use there.

It depends on what you're looking for in such a tool. And maybe you'll want both programs. I suggest looking at both programs' guides/tutorials on their respective websites.

Re. ICM and calling/pushing ranges, PokerCruncher doesn't have this, but another one of the PokerCruncher apps "Tournament Cruncher" (iPhone app) does have ICM calculation, and some call/push/fold analysis, and ChipChop calculation, M&Q ratios, and bubble factor calculation.

If PokerCruncher could toggle back and forth between top x% hands methodologies you'd be WAY ahead of PokerStove.

Thanks,
Xegete

Thanks for this good suggestion (additional top x% of hands orderings), and sorry it has taken me sooooo long to get to it. I put it on the backburner somehow and worked on other things. But you're right the Expert-Mac version of this program should have this. This feature just went live today in PokerCruncher-Expert-Mac, version 7.5.1.

I purchased this thing for my Mac a week or so ago and absolutely love it. I am sure it will prove to be an invaluable tool.

One thought for a future feature: might it be possible to divide a range into value bets and bluffs? For example, if I see the flop with 200 combos, and then decide I want to value bet 70 of them, check 70, and bluff 60, is it possible to perhaps have a small counter that allowed me to select combos from that 200 until I reached 70.

For simplicity's sake, let's say I want to bet all my draws, check all my pairs, and bluff all my air. It would be awesome if there were a way to hold shift and select all the hands that had a draw to see how many combos that gave me. (Not sure how one might select for suits that way, but still)

There may already be a way to do this and i just haven't found it yet, but if not, I think it would be a fantastic addition.

UpOnTheRidge,
Thanks for good words and feedback on the program. Two paragraphs below,
1st - Some ways in which I think the proposed selected-combos counter (new Shift-Select method) may not be an ideal way to do what you're looking for.
2nd - Features that the program already has that may take us most of the way towards what you're looking for.

(1)
Rather than divide a range into value bets and bluffs, let's call this feature divide a range into various hand types (made hands like OnePair or better, draws, nothing i.e. HighCard, etc.), because different players bet/bluff different types of hands. Re. the selected-combos counter, I think it'll be cumbersome to select combos by hand this way. Say you want to select only the combos that make OnePair on the specific flop you've entered. You have to eyeball and select all the cells in the range that make OnePair and exactly OnePair, which can be tedious. For flush draws this becomes much harder as you say ("Not sure how one might select for suits that way"), because you'll want to include only some (one) of the combos inside each suited cell, the suit that matches the flush draw on the flop. Same for other hand types e.g. combination draws or pair&draws; difficult and time consuming to select the cells by hand.

(2)
Would these features that the program already has help?

(a) The stat-checkboxes in the Stats view, and the TotalHit stat.
Turn on the checkmarks for the stats you want to include in the TotalHit stat at the bottom. Then calculate. Say you turned on just the OnePair stat. Say the TotalHit stat says 33%. This means that 33% of the range's combos resulted in OnePair. The top-right part of the RangeEditor view tells you the total number of combos in the range, so you can put the 33% and total number of combos to get the number of combos that make OnePair. Or, prob. just the 33% is enough. Another example, to see how many combos flop strong draws, you can turn on the FlushDraw and OpenEndStraight and DoubleGutStraight checkboxes.

(b) The "Mouse Over A Range's Stats" feature.
Say you've entered a specific flop (or flop+turn), and set DealTo=Flop (or =Turn), i.e. you're doing flop/turn texture analysis, which is the common usage for replaying and analyzing a hand you've played. Then if you click on the range to select it, and calculate, the "Mouse Over" feature will be enabled in the Stats view (a red "Mouse Over" label will appear at the top left). You can then mouse-over the stats' checkboxes in the Stats view, and the RangeEditor view will show exactly which cells (red color) in the range hit the stat you're mousing over. In addition the number of combos that hit the stat is shown in the top-right part of the RangeEditor view.

I'm thinking/hoping that the combination of (a) and (b) gets you most of the way to what you're looking for, in an easy to use way i.e. the program figures out which cells/hands hit OnePair, draws, HighCard (air), etc., you don't have to manually do it. Here's the link to the mouse-over feature in the program's tutorial. And I've given the screenshot for the mouse-over feature below for convenience.

Thanks for putting the program to use and for writing with suggestions. -RJ

Notam,
Thanks for sending good suggestions.
Your suggestion above went live yesterday in the Mac version (full stats and features for Deal-To-Turn, as for Deal-To-Flop). The tutorial has a section on it. The Mac version has been upgraded/renamed to be the Expert version of PokerCruncher so it should support this as you suggested.

Also I haven't forgotten about your other suggestions e.g. narrow a range from flop to turn (and turn to river) based on stats' check-boxes; will get to it a little later this year.

Absolutely love this program. Any update on the "narrow range" feature referenced above? It would be a home run, IMO.

Notam - Thanks for good words on the program. Yeah the "narrow range" feature would be great to have, sorry I didn't get to it this year. Was busy with other work (incl. some other Mac-expert-level features that I was able to get in this year); "narrow range" will have to wait til next year. But I haven't forgotten it, it's on my to-do. Thanks for using the program and for ideas and support.

Happy holidays Notam, and all. I've also been busy with several rounds of updates to all the versions of this app this year, but next year will get back to more expert level features in the Mac version e.g. "narrow range". Thanks. Til then, -RJ

Just checking did you mean the Mac version or iPhone version of this app?
The latest update was to the iPhone version, yesterday. I'm in the middle of updating all my iOS apps' UI's to new/modern/crisper style. The Mac version already has this UI update.
Thanks for support.

Im totally new to poker software, I bought the iPhone version, and I wanted the Mac version too, but… I just can't get it. Im not a computer retard, I just never used poker software before. So, I wonder, could you make a video series of tutorials? video is the keyword. I can't get the words and graphics tutorials…

Im totally new to poker software, I bought the iPhone version, and I wanted the Mac version too, but… I just can't get it. Im not a computer retard, I just never used poker software before. So, I wonder, could you make a video series of tutorials? video is the keyword. I can't get the words and graphics tutorials…

Thanks

A video tutorial is a good idea, adds another "dimension" on which to understand. It's just that I've postponed working on this because I have a lot of other work to do on the various versions of this app. For example the "auto filter range" feature suggested in this thread last year. And so far this year I've been busy upgrading all the PokerCruncher iOS apps to use the latest modern UI theme (2 more apps to go, Teacher and Quizzer). To do a series of say 6 or 12 short videos on each subfeature is a lot of production work, to do well. So it's on my to-do list, but I don't think I will get to it too soon.

I'd like to understand why the current webpage tutorial isn't helping you.

Re. "totally new to poker software",
That means you've never seen/used PokerStove? For now you could do a google search on "pokerstove videos" and see what that turns up; the central feature hand ranges is the same across all these apps.

Re. "I can't get the words and graphics tutorials…",
I'd like to understand if this is just you (or some people), or if I could have written the tutorial better. For example below is a motivation example of a situation in the hand ranges section (link). The tutorial then goes on to construct a range for opponent. Then in the next section we discuss weighting the range differently.

I think this is the sort of text/writing found in poker books where a situation is given and then analyzed. Could it be written better?, if so, do tell me how!

In summary what I'm thinking is, yes a video(s) would be a good addition and it's on my to-do, but just text+pics is valuable and useful too if written well (o.w. why do people buy/read poker books/articles/forum threads). And text has advantages; can re-read a sentence or paragraph over and over; can print it out, etc. But yeah videos have their own advantages too.

Thanks for suggestion, I'm hoping I can get to making a good set of videos sometime but I don't think it'll happen too soon. -RJ

==========
Real-Life Hand Situation: How to play QQ (or JJ) preflop when facing a re-raise?:

Let's look at a specific simple preflop situation that's very common - we call it the QQ (or JJ) dilemma. This example illustrates why QQ (or JJ) can be a difficult hand to play. You're in a 2/5 no-limit game and you have a 500 stack. You're in early position with QQ and you raise to 20. A solid tight-aggressive player on your left (also with a 500 stack) 3-bets you to 60. Everyone folds, and you 4-bet to 200, thinking your QQ is the best hand and since you're out of position (this may not be a smart play on your part, it may be better to call, or fold, but we'll say you 4-bet). Your opponent goes all-in for 500. It's 300 for you to call his all-in. Should you call his all-in?
...

Last edited by rj999; 04-07-2015 at 08:00 PM.
Reason: fixed a misspelling

A video tutorial is a good idea, adds another "dimension" on which to understand. It's just that I've postponed working on this because I have a lot of other work to do on the various versions of this app. For example the "auto filter range" feature suggested in this thread last year. And so far this year I've been busy upgrading all the PokerCruncher iOS apps to use the latest modern UI theme (2 more apps to go, Teacher and Quizzer). To do a series of say 6 or 12 short videos on each subfeature is a lot of production work, to do well. So it's on my to-do list, but I don't think I will get to it too soon…
...

Thanks for your response.

I don't know how profitable would be this for you, but you could hire somebody to do the video series, one reg pro. There are a lot of those who do that, poker video series, card runners, deuces cracked, you name it, and for them is not that difficult. You only know your numbers, so I can't say, but even if gets to expensive, you could sell the video series as an add-on. Just an idea. That will bring more customers as well, I think. I would buy it, and many people like me too…

>>> hire somebody to do the video series
>>> you could sell the video series as an add-on

Both good ideas I'll keep it in mind. Maybe sometime after I add the "auto filter range" feature to the Mac-Expert version.

Re. printing out the tutorial, I suggest printing just a few pages to start, the hand ranges section (link). The tutorial is best digested in pieces. I suggest following this section's example (you have QQ and enter a preflop raising war) with the app step by step.

A further thought on books, tutorials, videos etc. This stuff isn't easy, i.e. hand reading, putting opponents on accurate ranges, flop texture analysis, etc., it's an art and a science. New books are written on this subject each year. This app is meant to be a tool to use in combination with such already existing books or articles or videos or hand discussions on poker forums etc., not to be a standalone full solution to poker analysis. For example the range distribution graphs feature (link) that I added to the Mac-Expert version last year, I did that because a good book came out that looked at range distr. graphs for example to see how polarized opponents' ranges are. So even when/if I come out with a video series for this app, it won't be a full solution to understanding this field by any means. That is I don't think there's a magic bullet here with the videos or anything else, as this stuff is hard and requires a lot of homework.

However again thanks I like the video series suggestion, it's on my to-do.

Hey I love this product but I'm wondering if it is missing a simple feature that would make it even more useful (or perhaps I have missed it).

In any deal to flop / turn situation you can click on the buttons to see the range breakdown for hands such as pairs/draws/etc. If I want to continue with just the range that connects I can quickly see that by selecting each pertinent category of the pair/draw/etc, but how do I quickly change my opponents range to those specific cards. Assuming they are going to only call the flop bet with a reasonable range and not their pf range, how can I quickly change from the PF range that calculates what hit and didnt, into a flop continuing range?

Also, this is another feature I'd find useful and may exist but perhaps I am not using the software correctly. It is useful to find out what sort of range a person would need to have when considering pot odds. If for example I want to know if villain has 50% equity to determine whether to bet or call, could I just type in 50% and find out what that range would look? Of course I am talking about postflop and not just adding 50% of total possibility of cards in preflop range. I hope that is clear as it would be incredibly useful for the program to calculate all the combos that create a certain equity for an opponents range.

Thanks, great you like the program. The first feature you suggest would be very useful and is on my to-do list but I haven't gotten to it for a long time. Has been suggested by Notam and others on these threads. I've been busy this year updating the Cruncher iPhone/iPad apps' UI's and other work. But I do plan to get to this "narrow range" or "filter range" feature eventually.

I'll put your second feature (which I call "range solver") on my to-do list but I'll make it lower priority than the narrow range feature. Someone on this app's iPhone version thread asked about this a year or two ago and I postponed it, and suggested using a manual method for now. The manual method is a binary search: start with [Top0%, Top100%] as the initial endpoints of the guessed range. Then calc the equity of the midpoint range (Top50%). If the equity is higher than your target equity, then repeat the binary search with [Top0%, Top50%] as the endpoints, i.e. look in the left half. Else repeat the binary search with [Top50%, Top100%] as the endpoints, i.e. look in the right half. Then your next test points will be either Top25% (if you went into the left half), or Top75% (if you went into the right half). You'll quickly converge on the TopX% range you're looking for.

But of course this is a slow manual method; a program could calculate this way faster. Also this is using the TopX% predefined pre flop ranges, for example in PokerStove order, or Sklansky-Malmuth order, etc. (the app has 8 different orderings). Things aren't so easy on the flop or turn, because once you have specific flop cards or flop+turn cards, the pre flop ranges don't apply as-is any more, the board cards affect the hand values, and you've narrowed down the ranges by now, so it doesn't make sense to do the binary search technique on the TopX% pre flop ranges. Also the solution to "what villain range has Y% equity?" probably isn't unique anymore, whereas it's probably unique with the pre flop TopX% ranges. It's an interesting feature I'll add to my to-do, but I don't think I'll get to it too soon.

Sorry Newbie mistake here - posting without reading . Yea basically, I would really love the idea of "narrowing" down a range. I am iOS and Mac developer myself, so if you need any help give me a shout and I might be able to help you out on this feature.

Thanks

Hey man.

I bought the Expert version for Mac recently, thanks a lot. It works great.

I wanted to ask you if the following feature is possible:

I put in my hand, villan range and a flop. I calculate to FLOP. I really like how you calculate the different percentages in "Hit Hand" and "Make Hand". However, what I would like to do is be able to narrow down a range from those selection.

Now I get certain percentages in Hit Hand. I would like to be able to break down the range in several parts, based on the "Mouse Over A Ranges Stats". Ideally, the range would be able to be broken down in multiple portions, based on the "Mouse Over".

^
Thanks for another reminder on this good feature addition (filter/narrow range). I finally got around to implementing it in the Mac-Expert version. It's working fully and I expect to submit the app update in about a week (so will go live in about 2..3 weeks).

It will work as in the steps you gave, then you select which hand types you want to filter the range on by turning on those stats' checkboxes in the Stats view (these checkboxes also define the TotalHit stat at the bottom), then click the new "Filter" button in the Range Editor view. There will be undo/redo buttons for this filter range feature so you can go back and forth and compare. More details in 2..3 weeks when it goes live.

Re. paying something extra, I guess customers of this app are in luck because it'll be free because I haven't put in extra charges via in-app-purchase, in all of the PokerCruncher apps. This will be a nontrivial good new feature to get free, but I'm hoping in return users of the app will write a review of the app on the app store to help the app out going into the future.

The filter range (narrow range) feature went live today in the Mac-Expert version, V.8.2.1.

This is one of the trickier new features added, so I've added a lot of in-app help/instructions (click the "?" button that's under the "Filter" button in the Range Editor view). Also the app's tutorial has a new section on this feature including screenshots.

How this filter range feature works: this operation applies (is available) when specific flop or flop+turn cards have been assigned, and when Deal-To = Flop/Turn. This feature lets you filter (narrow down) a hand range based on hand types (stats) that you select (turn on) in the Stats view using the stats' checkbox buttons.

There are undo and redo buttons (<- and ->), but with only 1 level of undo. For more flexibility you can quick-save each variation of the hand range into the #1 .. #30 slots so you can go back to any previous point. See the release notes for more info.

Do let me know feedback, and if/how this feature can become more useful.
Thanks for ideas and suggestions. -RJ

( And thanks in advance if you write an app store review for the app : ). )

I get close to 62% equity with 88 vs AK pre flop. I use to know most pocket pair have 55% equity vs AK. When i calculate the exact same card in cardplayer calculator or pokernews calculator i get 55%-45% on both site. Is there somenthing wrong with pokercruncher?